Pasadena, Calif. - Barry Alvarez and the Wisconsin players no doubt earned respect with their gritty performance in the 99th Rose Bowl against favored Stanford.

Yet as they had too many times during the 2012 season, the Badgers failed to make the plays they needed in the closing minutes and failed to steal a victory that was within reach.

This loss, a 20-14 decision to the No. 8 Cardinal on Tuesday, came in front of a crowd of 93,359 and will burn more than any of the other near-misses the Badgers suffered during a tumultuous season that saw head coach Bret Bielema leave for Arkansas three days after the Big Ten title game.

Stanford (12-2) jumped out to a 14-0 first-quarter lead by out-scheming and out-executing UW's defense on touchdown drives of 80 and 79 yards; added two critical field goals from Jordan Williamson from 47 and 22 yards; and shut down UW's offense in the final two quarters after the Badgers had pulled to within 17-14 by halftime.

As a result, Stanford won its first Rose Bowl title since the 1972 game.

UW (8-6), which finished 2-5 during the regular season in games decided by seven points or fewer, lost in the Rose Bowl for the third consecutive season.

As a result, Alvarez saw his Rose Bowl record fall to 3-1.

"I thought we played extremely hard," Alvarez said. "We made some plays. But you fall behind, 14-0 . . . I thought that was a microcosm of their season.

"They fought back. Got in the ball game. Again, last possession they had themselves in a position where they had a chance to win the football game.

"This group of kids has been through a lot and competed extremely hard against a quality team."

UW's final chance ended with quarterback Curt Phillips, who had made big plays with his arm and his feet, turning the ball over with 2 minutes 3 seconds left and UW trailing by six points.

After Williamson's 22-yard field goal gave the Cardinal a 20-14 lead with 4:23 left, UW moved from its 25 to the Stanford 49.

Facing second and 5, Phillips tried to hit tight end Jacob Pedersen over the middle. The ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage by defensive lineman Josh Mauro, however, and nickel back Usua Amanam made a diving interception at the Cardinal 42 with 2:03 left.

"It was a max drop, so basically just playing the quarterback," said Amanam, who did not have an interception in 13 games before Tuesday and was named defensive player of the game. "I happened to see him go to the middle of the field, and I just pedaled to the right.

"I think a D-lineman got his hand on the ball and fortunately the ball just fell in my hands.

"So I don't think one play wins any game. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and we were able to kind of seal the game with that one."

Tailback Stepfan Taylor, who carried 20 times for 88 yards and one touchdown and was named offensive player of the game, carried three times for 14 yards after the turnover to help the Cardinal run out the clock.

"Coming in we knew it was going to be just grinding it out, grinding it out," Taylor said.

The Cardinal limited tailback Montee Ball to 13 yards on seven carries in the second half and to 100 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. Ball needed 150 yards to surpass former UW tailback Ron Dayne as the all-time leading rusher in the Rose Bowl.

"It was just challenging for us to scout them and watch film on them because we've really never faced a 3-4 defense with the standup D ends that they do," Ball said. "But their interior group is very physical and have shown that they do a great job of stopping the run and they showed it today."

Phillips, who had a 38-yard run to set up UW's second touchdown, completed 10 of 16 passes for 83 yards and a touchdown. That was a 4-yard strike to Jordan Fredrick to help UW pull within 17-14 at halftime.

Stanford limited UW to 82 yards on 25 plays in the second half after surrendering 219 yards on 37 plays in the first half.

Phillips completed 7 of 8 passes for 68 yards and a touchdown in the first half. After halftime, he completed 3 of 8 attempts for 15 yards.

"Nobody gave them a chance coming into this game," Stanford's David Shaw, 23-4 in two seasons as head coach, said of UW. "But we watched the film, saw how physical they played and saw how they lost so many close games to some really good football teams. We knew this was going to be a battle.

"For us, we wouldn't expect it any other way. This is the way we've played all year."

Stanford's defense made big plays throughout.

Tailback James White was stuffed for no gain on fourth and goal from the 1 in the first half, and Ball was stuffed for no gain on third and 1 from the UW 23 with 11:20 left in the game.

The Badgers overcame the first stop by forcing Stanford to punt and then driving 49 yards for their first touchdown, an 11-yard run by Ball.

They couldn't overcome the second stop, which occurred when nose tackle David Parry blew past center Travis Frederick to hit Ball.

Stanford took advantage of a 15-yard penalty on Shelton Johnson for fair-catch interference to start from its 44. The Cardinal drove to the UW 5 before the drive stalled and Williamson kicked his second field goal of the game for a 20-14 lead.

That set the stage for UW's final possession.

UW had the chance to drive for a game-winning touchdown to make one last statement that it was better than its record entering the day.

Stanford, 7-2 in games decided by seven points or fewer before Tuesday, instead made the victory-clinching play.

"It's heartbreaking," UW linebacker Chris Borland said. "You'd like to send out guys like Montee the right way, and we couldn't get it done today. Like Coach said earlier, it's kind of been a microcosm of our whole season.